Rhiannon Chatnoir's blog

Storytelling and Writing for the September 6th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Thu, 09/05/2013 - 21:44 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, September 6th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature J. L. Morin and Charles Degelman who will focus on storytelling and writing. Many of us have a story to tell. Whether you are writing to support the mission of your nonprofit, incorporating it in your teaching or have plans to write a novel, song or your next blog post, storytelling can be a powerful medium. 

Using Google Hangouts for the August 23rd NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Fri, 08/23/2013 - 01:40 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, August 23rd, TechSoup's Nonprofit Commons in Second Life meeting will featuring a discussion on using Google + Hangouts and other G+ tools.

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting
Friday, August 23rd, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT
Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater
http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

AGENDA (all times below PDT)
• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation - Using Google Hangouts
• 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

http://nonprofitcommons.org
The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.

OpenSimulator Community Conference for the August 16th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Thu, 08/15/2013 - 00:30 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, August 16th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to welcome Chris M. Collins (Fleep Tuque in SL) and Michael Cerquoni (Nebadon Izumi in SL), who will present an overview of the opensource OpenSimulator software, recent OpenSimulator updates, HyperGriding from one grid to another, and the upcoming OpenSimulator Community Conference.

The OpenSimulator Community Conference is an annual conference organized as a joint production by the Overte Foundation and AvaCon, Inc., that focuses on the community around the OpenSimulator virtual world software. The conference features two days of presentations, workshops, keynote sessions, and social events across diverse sectors of the OpenSimulator user base

Following the meeting we will take a tour of the OpenSimulator grid FleepGrid, a research grid owned and operated by Fleep Tuque. To sign up for an account on FleepGrid, go to http://fleepgrid.com:8002/wifi. 

Chris M. Collins | Avatar: Fleep Tuque

Chris M. Collins is an IT Analyst at the University of Cincinnati Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research (http://ucsim.uc.edu).  Her research focuses on the use of virtual worlds, social media, and augmented reality in higher education and for remote workforce collaboration, and she also manages the University of Cincinnati OpenSimulator grid (http://ucsim.uc.edu/blog/opensim/).  She is also a co-founder and serves on the board of AvaCon, Inc. (http://www.avacon.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the growth, enhancement, and development of the metaverse, virtual worlds, augmented reality, and 3D immersive and virtual spaces. In her free time, Chris also runs FleepGrid (http://fleepgrid.com), a personal research and testing grid.

Michael Cerquoni | Avatar: Nebadon Izumi

Michael Cerquoni is a core developer for the OpenSimulator project and a board member on the Overte Foundation (http://www.overte.org/) which governs the OpenSimulator project. Michael has been involved with the OpenSimulator project since July of 2007 and is one of the original founders of OSgrid. His primary interest in OpenSimulator has been to improve the software by providing technical support and to foster communication between the core development team to debug and provide the most stable platform possible.

 

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, August 16th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL 

 

AGENDA

    •    8:30 am Introductions

    •    8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

    •    8:45 am Mentors Central  

    •    9:00 am Featured Presentation - Fleep Tuque & Nebadon Izumi

    •    9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

    •    10:00 am Tour of FleepGrid

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Collaborative Superhero Teams for the August 9th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Thu, 08/08/2013 - 15:10 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, August 9th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to welcome Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond (Zinnia Zauber in SL), who will present on how to cultivate, recognize and reward excellence and acknowledge the potential in yourself and others. How do you share the spotlight, work and create collaborative 'Superhero' teams in your organization, office, classroom or beyond? Immersive environments, like Second Life, open opportunities for nonprofits and educators to expand their work by including worldwide professional guests, virtual and physical field trips, and community building inquiry and impact on screen and off. Learn how to establish experiences that build teams and encourage others to discover their superpowers.

 

Bio:

Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond is an artist, instructor, superhero, and advocate of awesomeness empowering people to be their best virtual and tangible self by advancing excellence, exceptional pursuits, and individualism through creative expression and encouraging instruction with inspired results.

 

Since 1993, she has taught fine art, fiber arts, digital arts, social media, multimedia web, video, personal and professional branding, marketing, collaborative community building, and art enterprise with Peninsula College, Monterey Peninsula College, at conferences, and independently.

 

Renne has been teaching virtual world use since 2008 with University of Washington, Peninsula College, Arizona State University, Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference at the National Defense University, TechSoup Global, Nonprofit Commons, Virtual Ability, Rockcliffe University Consortium, Texas Woman's University Online Conference, Second Life Community Conferences, and Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conferences.

 

Her company, unique as you, specializes in color perception, intention, and utilization to create motivating, engaging experiences with innovative identity development, marketing, social media, events, and immersive environments for businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions, organizations, and communities.

 

An award winning artist and Arts Advocate, Renne earned her Bachelors of Science in Art at Lewis & Clark College, Masters of Fine Art in Visual Art at Vermont College at Norwich University, and she graduated from the first pioneering class of the University of Washington Certificate in Virtual Worlds Program. Since 1995, she has served on several nonprofit organization boards and community committees and is currently the President of Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Vice President and Secretary of Museum Collective, Inc., Chair of the Burning Down the House Creative Collective, and Co-Chair of the University of Washington Virtual Worlds Program Alumni. She creates art, apparel, media, and virtual goods that embrace the power of brilliant hues, uniqueness, and acceptance. Renne only uses her superpowers for good.

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, August 9th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL 

 

AGENDA

    •    8:30 am Introductions

    •    8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

    •    8:45 am Mentors Central  

    •    9:00 am Featured Presentation - Zinnia Zauber

    •    9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Social Media Engagement & Measurement for the August 2nd NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Mon, 07/29/2013 - 07:39 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, August 2nd, Nonprofit Commons is happy to welcome Sandy Adam (Georgianna Blackburn in SL), who will present on how to use social media effectively to reach and engage your target audience, including creating your organization or campaign strategy, developing an effective content plan and measuring your results. We will also discuss creating a free social media campaign vs investing in paid campaigns, and some free tools for managing your social presence and why to use them.

 

About Sandy Adam:

Sandy Adam has been working in the digital space since the mid 90s. Throughout her life, she has played active roles in fundraising efforts for various community organizations. In 2004, she launched a website and formed a group called JOLT, which was chartered to raise $200,000 to contribute private funding for the extension of a community bike trail in Franklin, WI. Working together with local politicians, major companies in the area and local residents the group’s goals were realized within a 9-month period.

 

Her foray into other social media began in 2007. She’s been a member of the Second Life community since December of 2007 and in 2008-2009 conducted research in using virtual worlds for social networking while working for Sigma-Aldrich Corporation.  Over the past 6 years she has helped small, medium and large-sized companies to uncover the potential for connecting with customers and using social media to drive revenue.

 

For the past 18 months, she has been the manager of the global social media marketing efforts at ANSYS, Inc., an $800 million engineering simulation software company whose software is used by 96% of the top global manufacturers to design and test products in such industries as aerospace and defense, the automotive, high tech and health care. By creating virtual prototypes in a computer, manufacturers can speed their products to market, decrease product development costs and increase collaboration across design teams.

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, August 2nd, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

AGENDA

    •    8:30 am Introductions

    •    8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

    •    8:45 am Mentors Central  

    •    9:00 am Featured Presentation - Sandy Adam

    •    9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

A Lesson on Hiring Interns & a Tour of VWBPE for the July 26th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Wed, 07/24/2013 - 22:59 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, July 26th, Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is featuring Alice Krueger (Gentle Heron in SL), presenting a mini lesson on interns and some of the facts behind this trend. Why should you hire (or be) an intern? Is your organization thinking about hiring an intern? Or, if you are looking for a job, have you thought about becoming an intern for a nonprofit org or company?

 

About Gentle Heron:

Gentle Heron is a founder of the Virtual Ability community and president of the nonprofit corporation that supports it. She is a former Science and special education teacher.

 

Following this discussion, we will be taking a community field trip to the 2013 Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference. The event takes place across numerous virtual worlds and runs from July 24th to 27th.

 

VWBPE Schedule: http://www.vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-2013-schedule/action:oneday/exact_date:7-26-2013/

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, July 26th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

AGENDA

    •    8:30 am Introductions

    •    8:35 am TechSoup Announcements

    •    8:40 am Featured Presentation - Gentle Heron 

    •    9:00 am VWBPE tour 

    •    9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Using 3D Technologies to Solve Real World Problems for the July 19th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Thu, 07/18/2013 - 15:58 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, July 19th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to welcome Cody Rauh, who will present to NPC on using 3D technologies for real world uses in physical and cognitive therapy. Using his game and virtual world development experience combined with his 3D modeling and printing skills, Cody decided to make a difference by designing tools and toys used in therapeutic environments for children with sensory issues, autism, and cognitive or physical disabilities.

He recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund this project: Zoobits.

 

About Cody Rauh:

Cody Rauh, creator of Zoobits, is a contract based content developer in virtual world platforms. He has worked since 2006 on specialized development projects for the University of Venice, Memorial & St. Leo's University, DeMolay International and companies such as El Paso Corporation, CPI Creative, and Demandx.

 

Additionally, he has developed 3D asset kits that are used by over 100,000+ virtual world content creators, online game developers, and mobile app designers across the globe through his company F.E. Energy, LLC - http://www.fe-energy.com. He is also a volunteer for the children's hippotherapy program at the Colorado Springs Therapeutic Riding Center.

 

Currently his focus is on using 3D technologies to implement solutions to real world problems.

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, July 19th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

AGENDA

    •    8:30 am Introductions

    •    8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

    •    8:45 am Mentors Central  

    •    9:00 am Featured Presentation - Cody Rauh

    •    9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

NPC 7/12/13 Featured Presentation: Sami Petersen of SHIFT Scoliosis

Posted Tue, 07/16/2013 - 15:35 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

 

For the July 12th, 2013 NonProfit Commons meeting we featured Sami Petersen (SHIFTscoliosis in SL), who presented on her personal journey, her organization's mission and the power of digital storytelling. Sami was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 11, underwent spinal fusion surgery at the age of 15, and now at the age of 16, is the founder of the nonprofit SHIFT Scoliosis. Her experience inspired her to give back to the scoliosis community and help others, while spreading awareness and educating others about the condition. She started SHIFT Scoliosis in order to make those goals come true. SHIFT Scoliosis' video won for the Best in Health category in the 2013 TechSoup Digital Storytelling Contest.

    •    Sami's scoliosis story: http://youtu.be/8O1Q62RH_OU

    •    https://www.facebook.com/SamisScoliosisStory

    •    http://www.shiftscoliosis.org

 

Below is an edited transcript of the presentation and you can read the full transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YpRKGjfjB3n6bYdwlPclQ5NrYk01wSSIxWtIE4yi0sM/edit

 

           Buffy Beale: Cheering loudly!

           alebez: yaaaaaaaay! sami!

           Gentle Heron: Welcome Sami

           Zinnia Zauber: Rah Sami!

 

Sami Petersen (SHIFTscoliosis): Thank you so much:)

 

           Joyce Bettencourt (Rhiannon Chatnoir): welcome Sami and start when you are ready!

SHIFT Scoliosis for the July 12th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Tue, 07/09/2013 - 21:40 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, July 12th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to welcome Sami Petersen (SHIFTscoliosis in SL), who will present to NPC on her personal journey, her org's mission and the power of digital storytelling. Sami was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 11, underwent spinal fusion surgery at the age of 15, and now at the age of 16, is the founder of the nonprofit Shift Scoliosis. SHIFT Scoliosis' video won for the Best in Health category in the TechSoup Digital Storytelling Contest. 

About Sami Petersen: 

Sami Petersen is 16 years old and the founder of SHIFT Scoliosis. She was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 11 and underwent spinal fusion surgery at the age of 15 to correct her then 60 degree scoliosis curve.  She is now fused from thoracic level 3 to lumbar level 4 - almost her whole back!  Her curve was corrected to just 9 degrees and she no longer in extreme pain. The experience inspired her to give back to the scoliosis community and help others, while spreading awareness and educating others about the condition. She started SHIFT Scoliosis in order to make those goals come true! 

 

About SHIFT Scoliosis:

SHIFT Scoliosis believes every person is beautiful and perfect just the way they are regardless of whether or not they have health problems. Our goals are to provide information and support for individuals and families who are impacted by scoliosis. Our second goal is to provide education to those not touched by scoliosis to create a strong and supportive world community. By promoting knowledge of scoliosis and how it impacts those who are affected, we hope to encourage a better understanding of this condition which changes the lives of so many.

Digital Inclusion and New Technologies for the June 28th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Posted Wed, 06/26/2013 - 11:36 by Rhiannon Chatnoir

How can we use new technologies to provide greater equality in the 21st century? This Friday, June 28th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Elle Waters (Nethermind Bliss in SL) who will be leading a discussion on digital inclusion as a civil right and highlighting the exciting innovations in technology that provide greater access for people with disabilities. She will discuss some of the history behind the fight for global accessibility awareness, and examples where accessibility has been successfully used as a powerful tool to create a better experience for everyone. Elle will discuss the paradigm shift from compliance to cutting-edge at some companies, and she will demonstrate pragmatic techniques using examples from newly launched and not-yet-published solutions from enterprise projects.

About Elle Waters

Elle has been working in online spaces for over 15 years, always with the goal to promote equality and collaboration on the web. After years of evangelism and leading projects within virtual worlds, online communities, and social media channels, she started a career as the web accessibility coordinator at a large Fortune 100 company. While there, she focused primarily on implementation strategies for design, development, and process teams across the enterprise. Working with internal and external teams to build a corporate program from the ground up, Elle built the business case and established accessibility as an integral part of both the design strategy and the software development lifecycle, institutionalizing the process and creating a framework for long-term success.

Now, many years later with many lessons learned, Elle supports the enterprise strategy and business development needs of Simply Accessible, a leading UX firm that delivers insightful and creative accessibility consulting to Fortune 500 corporations, educational institutions, public utilities, government agencies and other private sector clients. She works directly with clients to form strategic solutions to problems and outline a roadmap to ensure that their websites can be successful and sustainable in meeting or exceeding accessibility requirements.

When Elle presents publicly, she usually speaks on topics ranging anywhere from enterprise accessibility strategy to leveraging accessibility as a tool to inspire innovation and transform an organization’s culture. Occasionally, she indulges in discussions about the gamification of accessibility and motivational design. Past speaking engagements include CSUN, John Slatin AccessU, Code PaLOUsa and several accessibility camps across the country. When not looking to start a revolution, Elle enjoys virtual worlds, zombie lore, and video games.

 

Many thanks to Brownrice Internet for hosting the NPSL site.

Syndicate content